The subject matter discussed in this background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention herein. A problem mentioned in this background section or associated with the subject matter of this background section should not be assumed to have been recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in this background section at the most represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Over two million people in the United States suffer from epileptic seizures. During a seizure the patient usually is unable to get help, talk, think, or act. In some instances it is very important for doctors and caregivers to be able to detect seizures and give the patient immediate help. Patients may suffer related injuries, such as from falls, traffic accidents, and other events. There are some types of seizures, if not attended to, that can be fatal.
Health care providers need condensed and specific information on patients to provide improved treatment. Specifically, when muscular activity and skin perspiration may shed light on patient status, continuous monitoring may be useful. Continuous monitoring may be indicated due to certain patterns in a patient's status, seizure history, or other medical conditions. Seizures may involve motor convulsions. Certain characteristics may be associated prior to a seizure, such as surface muscular contractions and increased skin perspiration, sometimes at specific locations.
With increased focus on financial management of health care there exists a need for monitoring patients in institutions or at home and in everyday environments to effectively and properly diagnose and treat a patient.
Currently there are no home or personal seizure monitoring or detecting devices used widely in the public. There are Electroencephalography (EEG) machines, which measure electrical neurological activity. However, EEGs are for hospital use and the hardware is large and expensive. The EEGs may analyze brainwaves to detect the onset or the occurrence of a seizure. EEGs require probes to be mounted on the patients' scalp to sense, extract, and transmit data. The probes are uncomfortable, intrusive, and awkward. The probes and associated equipment restricts patients' movements and may cause scarring. EEG can only detect activity in the cortex, the outer portion of the brain. If a seizure begins in the amygdala, the EEG will not be able to detect the seizure, but skin sensors can detect the same seizure. Also, the graphs from the EEGs need to be reviewed and interpreted manually by trained personnel, such as nurses and medical assistants.
Portable devices are increasingly used for multiple tasks that range from telephony to video to computing to audio and other entertainment and instructional uses. Portable devices may be used to facilitate communication, including via a communication service. Such devices may include mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable video/music players, electronic books, electronic book readers, tablet computers, portable gaming devices, and the like. Some of such devices include the iPad (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the iPod (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the iPhone (trademarked by Apple, Inc.), the BlackBerry (trademarked by RIM, Inc.), devices based on the Android (trademarked by Google, Inc.) operating system, such as the Nexus 7 tablet (trademarked by Google, Inc.), and other portable devices.
It would be advantageous to provide a communications service that would include one or more of the features of 1) detecting (or establishing or allowing entry of) a user's location; 2) assigning identifying information to the user (or allowing identifying information to be entered by a user); 3) assigning identifying information to other users (or allowing users to enter identifying information); 4) filtering the transmitted identifying information according to attributes selected by the located user; and 5) initiating an electronic conversation between the located user and at least one of the other users selected by the located user.
It would be advantageous to provide a method and apparatus for detecting seizures and other abnormal motor activity that may include one or more of the features of 1) sensing movement using a reference sensor having at least one conductive pad arranged to be placed on the skin of a body at a reference location for sensing, over a prolonged period of time, reference Surface Electromyography (s-emg) signals and/or electrodermal activity at the reference location; 2) placing at least one monitoring sensor having at least one conductive pad arranged to be placed on the skin of a respective limb of the body at a monitoring location for sensing, over said prolonged period of time, monitoring Surface Electromyography (s-emg) signals and/or electrodermal activity at the monitoring location; 3) comparing said reference signals with said monitoring signals; 4) producing an output by comparison of said reference signals and said monitoring signals; 5) detecting movement via an accelerometer, gyroscope, and/or other equipment; 6) genetic algorithm or other suitable method continuously analyzing data stored and coming from each user, and periodically optimizing the seizure/abnormal movement algorithm for each particular user for a detection and alerting algorithm for that user; and 7) using equipment that is discreet, comfortable, and convenient, such as in cooperation with a mobile device or other suitable method continuously analyzing data stored and coming from each user, and periodically optimizing the seizure/abnormal movement algorithm for each particular user for a detection and alerting algorithm for that user.